


Shells

by Goodluckdetective (scorpiontales)



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age II
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Darkest Timeline, M/M, Rite of Tranquility
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-16
Updated: 2015-10-16
Packaged: 2018-04-26 16:55:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5012530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorpiontales/pseuds/Goodluckdetective
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Don't make promises you can't keep, Fenris.<br/>They'll come back to haunt you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shells

[ ](http://afearreservedfordragons.tumblr.com/)

[afearreservedfordragons](http://afearreservedfordragons.tumblr.com/)

[barsenthor](http://barsenthor.tumblr.com/)  asked:

if you're still taking DA2 prompts steph tells me how much you love suffering, so maybe something about male tanquil!hawke/fenris? (loves me some guilt)

[ ](http://barsenthor.tumblr.com/)

(I’m always a slut for suffering! Can do)

Isabella is the one who gives him the news. 

He knows something is wrong from the moment he sees her. When he opens his door to find her standing there, lips pressed into a harsh line, hands in tight fists, it couldn’t be clearer. Isabella does not pull out such expressions on idle concerns. He’s already reaching for his sword before she speaks, and by the time she opens her mouth, it is strapped on his back. He excepts word of injury, word of sickness, some misfortune on any member of their ragtag family. 

“Meredith has Hawke,” Isabella says and the world goes cold. 

They make it to the Gallows in record time. Everyone else is already there, minus the Abomination and Merrill. This place is too dangerous for them to tread openly. Fenris is sure they are lurking somewhere in the shadows, nonetheless. He goes to Varric first, Varric always has news. 

“What has happened?”

Varric tells him. Meredith had called Hawke down to the Gallows for a meeting this morning. Two hours later, she’d reported he’d been arrested. That was all they knew. It’s not much to go on, information wise, almost nothing at all, and Fenris’ stomach twists. Has she finally decided to take the mage in? To force him into the circle? To take him away from them? From him?

“Aveline and Carver are in there now,” Varric says. “Meredith says Hawke said something off the mark and put him in the dungeons to teach him a lesson. They shouldn’t have a problem with getting him out.” Fenris can tell he’s trying to ease the worry boiling in Fenris’ gut. “Everyone is up and arms about taking in the Champion already. Unless she wants more dissent-”

He cuts off as the doors to the Gallows open. Cullen comes out first, his face terribly grave, which isn’t too unusual for the soldier. If circumstances were different, Fenris would smile at his expression; and Hawke said he was dour. Behind him is Aveline, her hands in tight fists, and behind them is Carver, leading out Hawke. His head is down, bowed, and while it hurts to see him so exhausted, relief fills Fenris at once. He’s fine. They let him go. They-wait.

Aveline is crying. 

Not fully on sobbing. It’s the reason it takes so long to notice, for him to pick up on. Instead tears trail down her cheeks, silent, dripping under her armor, a steady stream. She makes no effort to rub them away, making them visible to the public. It’s like she doesn’t even notice she’s doing it. Behind her, Carver’s eyes are red, he had to have been sobbing, and when he walks, it looks like he’s doing everything he can not to collapse. 

Fenris then realizes the look on Cullen’s face. It is not grave, no, it is guilty. And when he looks to Hawke for an emotion, and finds none, he finds his brain in free fall.

“Some rogue Templars found him-” Cullen starts, giving his excuse for what Meredith has likely done. Fenris does not care. He is running, running towards Hawke at full speed, past Aveline, past Cullen because, no, no, no, he will not do this, he cannot, not after three years of letting it go and-

Hawke looks up at him with dead eyes and a sun on his forehead. 

Fenris falls into him, pulling him to the ground in an embrace. The stone of the Gallows is cold under his knees and he puts his hand on Hawke’s face. He can see the red scarf Hawke gave to him as a favor on his wrist. It is the same color as the war paint now absent from Hawke’s face. Carver makes no move to retrieve him, sobbing openly now once more. Fenris leans forward, and grips Hawke’s shoulder with his free hand.

“Hawke?”

There is nothing in his eyes.

“Hawke? Hawke. Do you hear me?”

When Hawke speaks his voice is hollow. “Of course. My ears are fine.”

It is not the answer Fenris is looking for. He shakes him once, then once again. “Hawke.” He leans forward to press a light kiss on his lips. It gets no response. Fenris speaks again, this time his voice a broken whisper.

“ _Garrett_?”

“Hello Fenris,” Hawke says and Fenris finds himself sliding back into years ago, a memory, a promise, and no, no no.

_“Fenris,” Hawke says, his eyes full of fear so many years ago. “I would rather be dead than Tranquil. Please, if it comes to that-” He pauses. “Kill me.”_

_Fenris is a fool. He says yes._

Fenris blocks out the memory at once with a scream. It echoes through the Gallows, to Meredith’s office, and Fenris hopes she knows that it is the call for her blood.

It is only after that warning does he allows himself to sob on Hawke’s shoulder. Both of them shells of what they used to be.


End file.
